


answer the call

by Edgedancer



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternia, F/F, Kids are spirits, Major Character Undeath, Other, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-10 13:10:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7846327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Edgedancer/pseuds/Edgedancer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is a proud tradition of Alternia: prior to their ninth sweep and subsequent coming of age, three trolls form a circle to summon a spirit to fight for them and lend them magic powers. </p>
<p>Of course, it's a little more complicated than that for our favorite adolescent trolls.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sorcerer

As soon as the ball of light in the center of the circle grows tentacles, you know you've made a stupid decision. However impressive it is to summon a Daywalker, it's about twice as embarrassing to die because you were dumb enough to try it. Also, probably painful. Can't forget that.

Suddenly, the light unfolds into a creature straight out of the depths of the uncanny valley. It resembles an adolescent female troll in face and... body shape... but its skin is an unnatural pale peach, its hair is the color of the rings on your fingers, and it has no horns. Worst of all are its eyes; instead of a child's yellow, or even the glowing colors of an adult, they are a bright white, with mocking purple where its irises should be.

Your grip tightens on the wand you brought to channel the power of this creature. You'd always known that you wanted to be the sorcerer in your summoning circle, and that you'd choose a spirit strong in traditional majyyks. Choosing the Morning Calamity was a bit more recent, though: you'd wanted to show up Vris, and a Daywalker associated with horrorterrors and the undead had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Of course, your circle were the ones who went along with it. Gamzee is an idiot who you just hoped wouldn't drag you all down into stoned clown-worshipping disgrace, but you expected Kanaya to have more good sense!

The way she's looking at the Seer of Light now, though, reminds you of Kan's unhealthy fascination with the undead, as well as her immunity to the destructive effects of sunlight. That explains that, you suppose.

"Well, it has been a while," says a smooth, flutelike voice you've never heard before. It's unnerving to hear the spirit speak your language, and the rake of its alien eyes makes you shiver even though the room around you is far too warm. "You three think yourselves fit to wield my power?" Her gaze takes in your wand, moves thoughtfully over Gam's vacant grin, and settles on Kanaya. In the shadows the spirit casts in the containment circle, tentacles writhe and dance greedily, reminding you of nights spent visiting Feferi, and then of the last night you'd been there, when you'd finally gotten up the courage to propose red, and she said...

Well, you'll show her just like you'll show Vris, and Sol. You're going to wield the Seer of Light's power right to the top of the conquering fleet, and you haven't decided yet whether you'll support Fef's inevitable coup. Maybe you'll take her back once she really appreciates what you can do.

Kan has started an incantation meant to force the spirit to reveal its true name, but it isn't paying the words any more attention than you have been, instead choosing to study Kan intently.

Suddenly, its gaze snaps to you.

"So you want them to see what you can do?" it asks, staring directly into your eyes. You nod, enthralled by its strangely penetrating gaze. Kan keeps chanting steadily, but you ignore her, too interested in what the spirit will say next.

"Show me your weapon," it commands, and you raise your wand toward the center of the room, where the creature stands in its large pentacle.

Before you can blink, the runes on your own protective circle flash, leaving white afterimages of feathered wings in your mind, followed by a beam of light from your wand. The spirit smirks, and your mouth gapes in horror; between it and you is Kanaya, who, facing the creature, doesn't even notice the light until it gores her through the stomach and cuts off her chant.

Oh god, you're going to die. The anchor to the protective spells is dead, but even worse: you just saw the Angel's wings. You've never believed in omens but you know a vision when you see one.

Gamzee seems to wake from the stupor he's been in since he intoned his part of the initial summoning, but stops just short of leaving his own circle. You aren't sure it will work if one of its casters is dead, but stepping outside will definitely break the enchantment; even Kan's body hasn't fallen outside her smaller pentacle at all.

Kanaya is dead. What do you do now? The summoner is always the most at risk in the ceremony, but you never actually thought she would die. You didn't take this too seriously, and you know Gam didn't either; most of the work fell on Kan.

Kanaya, who studied the drawing of the circles.

Kanaya, who helped find a spirit that was suitably powerful, but you thought you could handle.

Kanaya, who is now bleeding green all over Gamzee's hive floor.

Kanaya, who you have just murdered with your own stupidity.

Kanaya, who should have been the one holding the spirit here— why is it still here, smirking at your horrified face, instead of returning to its own realm having consumed your souls?

Suddenly, the answer presents herself: Kanaya, who is dragging herself to her feet and raggedly beginning the chant once more while trying to hold her internal organs inside her stomach with glowing hands.

"My name is Rose Lalonde." The spirit cuts her off, rolling its eyes. Kanaya quickly speaks the final binding spell, then starts toward the spirit angrily. "There's no need for upset, Miss Maryam," she continues, floating out of Kanaya's reach and toward you. "I have simply unlocked a certain ancestral ability of yours, with the help of your sorcerer friend here."

Kanaya swings around, fast as light– of course– and glares at you. Lalonde tilts her head. "Speaking of which, Mister Ampora, Mister Makara, you should probably donate some blood to Kanaya here. She needs to replenish her energy. Resurrection takes a great deal out of a troll."

"Miracles," Gam breathes before slouching out of his circle and awkwardly holding out his wrist. You stand in a state of shock as Kanaya eagerly punctures the skin with her fangs and begins drinking.

"I'm glad I'm not the only daywalker in this circle," Lalonde remarks dryly, eyeing Kan once more. Kanaya looks up at her and smiles, and there's something heated in that gaze.

A rainbow drinker and the Morning Calamity, your brain giggles hysterically. They deserve each other.


	2. Sleeper

2\. Sleeper

This is not the scariest moment of your life: the split-second of clarity between jumping into space without a care in the world, ready to fly, and slamming into the ground so hard you never felt it at all, that blew this out of the water. After all, most people survive summoning; at the time, you'd never heard of anyone who had survived falling off a cliff.

Of course, if you don't convince the drones that you can contribute in a fight, you still won't have. Also, you'll be dead.

The fact that today needs to be impressive has driven you to accept some risks that are probably unwise. Well, that and the two girls taking the risks with you. Terezi has assured you that the spirit you are summoning is perfectly safe given the proper precautions are taken, but Kanaya's group thought that about their spirit, and from what you can decipher of Gamzee's odd tale of the "miracle" he'd witnessed, Kanaya may have died.

You glance over at Aradia nervously as she finishes her part of the summoning chant; she smiles at you even as you notice that her feet are only brushing the floor and realize that she's using her mind to hold herself up instead of straining her still-fragile bones. Terezi taps your wheelchair with her cane, signaling you to start your part of the chant: she went first, imbuing protections in the circles; Aradia, as the sorcerer, activated the runes that will link the spirit's power to the three of you; and you will send out the call that pulls the spirit into place.

As you chant the well-practiced words, your mind wanders. The three of you are all invalids; if you hadn't had access to top-of-the-line health products through Gamzee and Feferi, it's likely that none of you would have survived Vriska's rampage, especially Aradia. But even alive, no one wants to permanently team with the blind girl, the cripple, or the porcelain doll, so you'd been stuck together. You feel bad about being relieved; Aradia and Terezi are both incredible despite their disabilities, and they don't deserve you dragging them down, which you know you do even if they say you aren't a burden.

This means you have to do your very best to keep up with them— including in the field of bravery, leading to your agreeing to summon the Sunshine Paladin, despite him being a spirit of the day, which means not only is he about ten times as dangerous as most night spirits but also that you have to stay up to do the ritual after midday. Spirits vary a lot in how long their window of summoning is: the Stardark Wanderer can be summoned anytime between the sky going dark and the stars coming out, while the summoning for the Daybreak Bandit must begin at the moment the horizon begins to lighten and must be finished at exactly the moment the sun's first rays hit the highest point of the Sleeper's dwelling. (Only the most determined attempt that summoning-- as far as you know, no one has ever managed it in one try.)

None of the research you did was able to describe what you are experiencing now. You can feel your Old Alternian chant passing through a strange barrier; you almost hear something responding, being pulled towards the wall that seems to be nowhere in particular but also everywhere at once and weakening in one little spot as you chant on louder and louder until you yell the final word which punches a hole that disappears in an eyeblink as awareness of the barrier recedes to the back of your mind to occupy a spot that has always been there, empty, until just now, and you might have missed the thing that came through except that it simultaneously appears in real space as a bright red blur in the center of your summoning circle.

You actually did it! It's in Terezi's very capable claws now.

As you watch, the red blob swirls tighter and tighter, then splits in two– as white spreads around them, you realize that they are eyes. A moment later, there is a pure white crow perched on a white branch that is suddenly mysteriously sticking out of your recreation block floor and turning its piercing red eyes on Terezi's equally red glasses.

She cackles. "Hello, Mr. Vanilla-Cherry Milkshake!"

You blink. The bird blinks. Aradia blinks.

Finally, the spirit opens its beak. Instead of the caw you were expecting, a deep, smooth voice comes out. "You know, I've been around basically forever, and that might just be the weirdest thing I've ever been called."

You are used to animals talking to you, but in your mind, not in troll voices out of their mouths. You are trying your best to ignore the prickle up your spine that comes from not being able to feel an animal mind in your head despite your eyes telling you that there is a crow sitting in front of you. It isn't helped by the bird's unnatural stillness; real birds are always tilting and twitching their heads, trying to keep every possible threat catalogued.

Undisturbed as she is by everything else, Terezi begins the chant that will force the spirit to reveal its name.

"What's a milkshake?" it asks. The look on Terezi's face says she really wants to address this tragic gap in its knowledge, but she keeps chanting. "Ok, don't answer. You can tell me later, that's cool." It cocks its head to look at Aradia. "So, you're the sorcerer. Gonna be wielding those kickass time powers. Or clockwork majjyks, if you're a certain stuffy tentacle girl." Aradia smiles at its rambling but doesn't answer, and the crow that is really a spirit hops around to look at you.

"So, my good sleeper bro, why me? Of course I am the hottest spirit there is, but what shed light on the benefits of light?"

You think he's asking why you chose to summon a Daywalker, though it's hard to tell through his constant stream of words, and you suddenly feel sympathetic to everyone who's ever complained about your rambling, except that the people who do that are mostly Vriska and Karkat, and both of them talk just as endlessly so they have no room to complain, although perhaps they are a bit easier to understand than you or this drivel. Really you should follow Aradia's example and not say anything, but that doesn't seem very polite and it's not a harmful question or anything.

"We decided that we needed the um, boost, in power and, more importantly, intimidation, that a Daywalker would provide, by virtue of it's, um, I mean your, scary reputation."

"Why would some cool dudes like you need a boost?" he asks.

You flush and rub the armrest your four-wheel device self-consciously. He seems to notice it for the first time, and then his gaze darts to Aradia's just-off-the-ground feet and Terezi's shaded eyes. You realize that you've revealed the weaknesses in your group to a potentially malevolent party and kick yourself (mentally, of course, because of aforementioned weakness).

He clacks his beak as Terezi reaches the halfway point of the name chant. "Right. And I guess you badasses want revenge on..." his eyes swirl oddly, hyponitizingly, "...Vriska." You go cold, realizing he must have read your mind. You know that spirits can do that with their summoning circle, but you always thought it was after the binding was complete.

Suddenly, the moment of tension breaks as the crow breaks eye-contact to look at the ceiling. "Wait, isn't that that Mindfang lady's sign?"

Terezi breaks off for a moment, then continues, voice strained. It's not quite enough to disrupt the spell because she didn't halt for too long or mid-word, and you are in awe of her composure because she continues even through what he says to her next.

"And you've got Redglare's." He turns to Aradia. "And you look just like the Demoness. This is some uncanny shit right here." He doesn't sound especially disturbed.

Wait, he just confirmed the existence of Death's Handmaid, the wriggler's fey tale. And also she is apparently Aradia's ancestor according to this guy? She looks as surprised as you feel, and that is the most surprised you've ever seen someone, to the point that it is sort of comical.

When he turns to you, you don't think you have any room to be surprised anymore. Besides, there's no way you're descended from someone as interesting as the people this spirit has apparently met.

He squints at your sign and busts out laughing. This actually is pretty shocking– until now, his voice had been very even, barely a hint of amusement, but this is full out belly laughter of the kind that makes a crow look very undignified, and makes you feel about the same for being its target. Finally, he pulls himself together, wheezing.

"Sorry, bro. I didn't recognize you without the wings, but I guess you're pupating in..." he looks at the ceiling again– "six perigees. Jo-- the Heir's gonna be so jealous. Not only will my entire circle fly, but I got the Summoner's kid."

Before you can gape too hard, Terezi finishes the chant. The spirit booms, not through the crow's mouth, but from the whole circle, in a voice that is his own and that of a dying old man and the sizzling midday sun and the steady ticking of a clock: "Dave Strider."

You feel as though you've seen the fabric of the universe, and it isn't pleasant. You think you catch a glimpse of the future, and that glimpse isn't pleasant either, though you don't comprehend it. Terezi and Aradia both scream; Aradia looks very old, and then for a moment she's washed in gunmetal gray and navy blue, before she appears normal– except instead of her usual black-shirt gray skirt ensemble, she's in a dress a shade brighter than her blood color adorned with the gear you know represents Time. It isn't the Knight robes that the Sunshine Paladin is always pictured wearing, instead evoking the Condesce's Twilight Maiden. But there is no Maid of Time...

Suddenly, your gaze is drawn to Terezi, who is pinching her nose shut, teal tears trailing from behind her glasses. This strikes you as odd until you realize that she sees with her nose now, and you wonder instead what she could have smelled that upset her so deeply.

The crow caws– an actual caw, this time– and everything returns to normal, though Aradia and Terezi look remarkably haggard.

"And that's why we avoid using that spell on spirits of my caliber, kids. It isn't good for your little minds. Or my beautiful voice."

Terezi pulls herself together enough to say the binding chant. Then she and Aradia both collapse, and you hear the ominous crackle of Aradia's bones as she hits the ground.

"Welp. Let's go heal these two, my friend." You gape at him, uncomprehending. "You didn't know? We can heal people now, you just gotta do it on the Terran plane."

You take a deep breath. You can't let your friends die. You're descended from the most infamous rebel in Alternian history, you're bound to a powerful Daywalker, and in six perigees, not even gravity will be able to hold you back– so from now on, neither will fear.

"Tell me how."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was eventful! This chapter was the one that kinda ran away with me.
> 
> By the way, I posted some information about this AU (and a crude diagram of a summoning) on my tumblr (radiantmists.tumblr.com), and will add even more over the next few days, so check it out!


	3. Spirit

3\. Spirit

You are on the hunt. Formless, John speeds beside you, his winds ruffling your fur. You imagine Dave in his crow shape soaring high above and calling directions and silly jokes. Rose would be keeping pace on the ground in her two-legged form, or else sitting in a tree and adding in her own tips with that little smile she gets when she pretends to be above you. But your Dersite friends aren't here; Rose was gone last week and hasn't even visited with her new Sleeper yet, and Dave left, returned with his (rather adorable) circle and then left again just before John came back from yet another "failed" summoning.

John gets called to the Alternian plane all the time, but he hasn't stayed there for centuries. You're sort of glad; before then, you'd been alone all the time.

Something pokes at your nose. You bat at it with your long, fluffy tail– you love being a wolf soooo much!– but it doesn't go away. In fact, it seems to get stronger, squeezing your whole body. You're about to ask John if he's playing a prank on you when the something starts to tug.

You know what this is! You're being summoned!

You yip in happiness, and feel John's attention turn to you even as the tugging gets stronger. The wind keeps rushing along beside you but coalesces into something more solid and distinctly bluer, and you hear John begin to yell something.

Suddenly, you feel as though you're being pulled through a straw, and then even more suddenly you're free– and running at full speed toward a short, nub-horned troll.

You try to slow down, but you still slam into something solid. The troll falls backward as you hit the barrier between you. It burns you a little, and you yelp.

"That hurt!"

The troll splutters and stands up. Behind him, a girl says, "I told you it was the green moon!"

"Well, I'm sorry if every single other book except the one you mysteriously pulled out of your waste chute said specifically that the Crescent Huntress needed the pink one!"

They devolve into an argument that gets steadily nastier as minutes pass. Fascinated, you watch, reminded a little of the way Dave and John insult each other in a way that they assure you is completely friendly.

Eventually, you get bored. "What are you talking about?"

They continue arguing. A tall boy with very cool bi-colored eyes answers you: "A bunch of books– actually nearly all of them– say you have to be summoned when the pink moon was a crescent and the green one was full. That isn't going to happen for sweeps, but FF made us try now before we picked some other spirit because she had a book that said the green had to be a crescent and eclipsing the pink."

You swish your tail against the floor, enjoying the feel of smooth stone. You've never been summoned, and you'd always thought it was because your summoning conditions only happen about once every hundred sweeps and only for about a minute, according to Rose. Still, it had been fishy because over the past few hundred sweeps spirits with even more specific conditions have been summoned because the trolls have fancy computers that let them calculate time super carefully. (Or so Dirk said, and he hasn't been to the Alternian plane since the Disciple lady was around. He's shown you what she was like, and you really wish you could have met her.) If the books are wrong, that would explain it. But those books are based on what other spirits say– how could they be wrong?

"It was a really old book, too, from before they figured out protections for the summoner's circle– I thought all pre-Summoner histories had been purged," the kid adds.

The name tugs at your memory– wasn't it the Summoner whose death made John throw that huge hissy fit and start escaping summonings?

Suddenly, everything clicks. In the five hundred years since that happened, everyone but your little group has started giving you weird looks, at least until John showed up. Then they'd run away, which you didn't mind because those looks made you uncomfortable. But now– he must have scared everyone into telling your summoning conditions wrong! You're going to give that boy _such_ a talking to– just because he doesn't like to meet new trolls anymore–he needs a reminder that _you're_ the oldest and _he's_ the baby–

Something tugs at your tail. You recognize it as the same force that brought you here in the first place, and after a moment you realize that the spell keeping you on the Alternian plane is wearing off as your window closes.

"Hey!" you interrupt the argument between the two shorter trolls. "If you don't stick me here I can't stay and give you cool powers!"

The grumpy one swears and starts chanting some nonsense that you can tell isn't the binding. You realize that it's made to force you to tell him your name truthfully, and you also realize that he isn't going to finish that and the binding before you get pulled back, even ignoring the fact that telling them your soul the way the spell would force you to would break their brains as badly as it does to Dave's circles. (Not as badly as Rose's does now, though. When she doesn't like the looks of a circle, she just lets them finish the name chant. It hasn't failed yet.)

"It's Jade Harley!" you chirp. The troll glares at you, and you can tell he doesn't trust that you're telling the truth.

"Just do it, Karcrab!" the girl shouts. "There's no time!"

He takes a deep breath. Just as you feel the squeezing that you now know leads directly to being pulled through the barrier, he finishes the chant.

Everything stops. Tentatively, you stick a paw out of the circle. Nothing happens.

You whoop and bound toward the grumpy troll. He goes down under your weight and appears to be freaking out, but you just lick him enthusiastically. Then you flop down on top of him– he's shivering, and your fur will probably warm him up. Plus you actually have a physical presence now that emits body heat, which is so cool!

"Thank you sooooo much!" Both the tall boy and the girl are snickering– you notice her pretty fins, now, and the way she laughs makes you miss Jane. You shake your head and laugh along, heady on adventure. "Let's go see the world!"

The nub-horned troll looks alarmed. "Wha–"

But with a pop and a flare of green fire, the three of you are off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that's weird, because it has The Summoner and the summoner. It also has a ton of hints stuffed in about their origins as well as Jade's big realizations.
> 
> Some more lore on the different roles in the circle and generally how summoning works has gone up on radiantmists.tumblr.com if you're interested.


	4. Summoner

You normally love hearing the sound of your own voice, but this is getting booooooooring. You finish the chant as quickly as possible, and groan internally as Nepeta begins her portion. After that is Equius's, and then you have another two chants to get through.

This reminds you of what Kanaya and Terezi always say about working for what you want instead of relying on luck. Summoner may be the most work-intensive and chant-heavy role, but you're also the one that actually controls the spirit, so you guess it's worth it in the end.

Assuming the end is not you dying horribly of course. This is a particular risk with the spirit you've chosen to summon; after Eridan and Tavros both managed Daywalkers somehow, you'd had to up your game to avoid being shown up by seadwellers and crippled lowbloods— or at least that's what you'd told Equius to get him to agree. The Midnight Trickster has the highest circle breaking count in history, so convincing the sweaty horse-brain was a feat, but it was worth it in the end, because the Midnight Trickster was also the spirit that, summoned by Mindfang and her winged matesprit, took out the entire First Imperial Spacefleet. Only the arrival of the Condesce's Twilight Maiden itself brought it to a halt.

Equius stops chanting.

Nothing happens.

"Hey, sweaty! Wh—" you start.

"It came through, I felt it," he rumbles. His tone is even but you can tell he's glaring. You're about to snap at him when you hear a chuckle, sounding much more like rumbling thunder than Equius-- or any troll— ever could.

You spin back to look at the circle, but there's still nothing there.

"Seriously? I'm a wind spirit, of course I'm going to appear as air. I can't believe no one in two hundred and fifty sweeps has gotten that, but I suppose that's trolls for you."

"You're the Midnight Trickster?" Nepeta asks.

"Yes," the voice answers, and you start the name chant. "Do you seriously think you can control me, Vriska Serket?" it asks you in offhandedly.

You almost break off. You'd always believed you'd at least be able to tell when a spirit entered your mind, after years of breaking into others', but that came out of nowhere.

"Midnight Trickster is a bit of a misnomer, though. My summoning period's actually anytime the sun's entirely set." You wonder why this information wasn't in Mindfang's journal, but it's not really relevant; in fact it makes your life easier, though there was no way you'd have taken the whole hour anyway.

The spirit goes on; you're reminded of Tavros jabbering about fairies or that animal game for hours. "So usually I just wait as air until they think they've failed."

Then, presumably, they step out of their circles. You've seen photographs of what happens next: it explodes the hive, then ties them by their underwear to the tallest nearby object where they burn to a crisp the next morning.

It didn't try that on you, though. It must remember Mindfang— you must remind it of her.

"Not really," it laughs, and you realize it's responding to your thoughts. Indignant, you stop the chant to retort, ignoring Equius glaring daggers at your back. The spirit continues before you can start yelling. "She was much more patient, just to start."

What?

"These spells of summoning are well done, actually, and the transference of power ones are pretty good. You should both be proud of yourselves!" it tells Equius and Nepeta, and a part of your mind wonders if cheeriness and deadliness are related, which considering losers like Karkat compared to badasses like Terezi could be true.

(Speaking of Karkat, as far as you know no one has heard from anyone in his circle since that all-lowercase message to Nepeta from his account asking her to "tell everyone nobody's dead :D" last week.) 

"But your spells of protection could use some work," it adds.

From behind you.

"Nepeta!" Equius yells, and the sweaty idiot looks like he's about to leave the circle. A column of air begins to turn blue. But it's inside your circle, not hers.

Alright, so maybe you used a shorter version of the chant. It's not your fault if the stupid journal gave you a faulty spell! When (if) you talk to Kanaya again, you're telling her how wrong all her advice about books being more trustworthy than the internet was.

"Of course, I still can't leave my circle! Circles are annoying that way. But I can get in here!" It solidifies into a hornless trolloid figure with skin the color of the really dark chocolate Kanaya always asks you to buy for her.

A wind picks up and swirls the spirit's bright blue hood. For a moment you don't understand what's happening, and then you try to take a breath to ask what the hell it's doing and nothing happens.

 _Wait_ , you think, _I'm Mindfang's descendant_ , and if you have any luck at all the spirit is reading your mind because you can do nothing else but choke on the air that's now actively leaving your lungs.

Though you're incredibly panicked, you realize that no pain has hit yet. Black spots start to dance in your vision. It occurs to you that you'll pass out before your brain actually starts to die, and that this must be kinder than if you'd waited for Mom to get too big to sustain...

You collapse to the ground and you can tell you're about to land on your elbow. But the pain doesn't come, and a moment later you're laid gently onto the floor. Then you gasp and realize the air is back.

Is that it? You've held your breath longer than that before. (Eridan used to think dunking you was hot, until you started aiming for his gills.)

"I guess I can't hurt you. Not so bad after all, then!" the spirit comments. Nepeta says your name in a concerned tone, but both you and the spirit ignore her. "That'll make this a little bit tougher."

It sounds incredibly dismissive, as if you could never have done this, and you're abruptly furious. You start the name chant over again. Everyone is still in the circles they're supposed to be in, and that's as much as you can be bothered to care about. Even if binding the Heir of Breath really is as impossible as everyone warns, you're going to wipe that condescending grin off of its unnatural face.

"You're going to bind me?" it asks, and its eyes glow bright blue. Out of the corner of you see one of Equius's hastily covered musclebeast paintings fly off the wall as the pressure plummets.  
The thunder in its voice deepens, but you scream the chant right over it. "You think you can control the Midnight Trickster when no one's done it in two hundred and fifty sweeps!"

 _Hell yes,_ you think as you continue the chant. You know it hears you because it dissolves into blue, which swirls around you angrily to yell in your ears some more.

"You summoned me, endangered your friends, for the sake of your vanity! You think the world is yours to control!"

Something tickles at your mind. That sounded familiar...

"I almost feel bad. It's a pitiable fate, to be as blind as you are."

What? A pitia8le fate... _To whomever finds it, 8e wary, for the truth it tells may leave its new keeper 8lind as I was. Though no more._

Your hair whips around you like the tentacles of some sea beast as the spirit goes into a frenzy. A gust knocks you off your feet and you nearly bite your own tongue trying to continue the chant as you fall toward the ground repeatedly, picked up and then dropped and then caught again. Nepeta is shouting something but it's lost in the wind.

"You want me to kill for you! I had to fight my _sister_ for your greed!"

You see white text telling you that you were always going to try to kill your best friends.  
You see white fangs dripping with blood at the bottom of the cliff.  
You see white chalk closing you in.

"You want to chain me down!" it booms so loudly you almost can't hear it. It's only when the echoes reach your ears that you can make sense of it: _chain me down, down, chain us, chain you..._

You see it, finally.

"No," you grin, and everything stops. "I want to set you free."

Once again, the wind whips around you, but suddenly it echoes the same excitement you're feeling now that you've won this game. A breeze wraps around you like a hug, then ruffles your hair like an old friend. You breathe in blue and it tastes like freedom.

 _I'm John_ , says the new voice in your head. _And I'm still blowing up the house._

You can't help an exultant cackle, and the cyclone catches and tosses and echoes it until you can't tell where your laugh ends and the spirit's begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that made this fic something I really wanted to write; it's grown a lot since then, but I really hope this chapter lives up to what I wanted for it!
> 
> And that's the first part of summoners! The next part is more comic than anything and I am an even slower artist than I am a writer, so most likely it'll be other fics of mine that get updated in the near future.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts?


End file.
